CO2balance works with local groups and NGOs in Rwanda to deliver clean, safe water by identifying and rehabilitating broken-down boreholes. An ongoing maintenance programme, alongside water sanitation and hygiene training, ensures a safe and reliable community water supply is maintained.

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Each of the 12 micro-projects under this programme prevent 10,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.

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What this means for local people:

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As well as reducing emissions and helping our climate, this project provides:

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1. A supply of clean safe water for communities

2. Reduced incidence of waterborne diseases and diarrhoea, lifting the burden of disease on people’s livelihoods

3. Less time spent collecting water (traditional sources, such as open wells and rivers, are often far away and highly seasonal)

4. Less time and effort spent collecting wood to boil and sanitise water

5. Reduced expenditure on wood fuel, leaving money free for other household expenses

6. Reduced pressure on local wildlife and ecosystems due to reduced deforestation

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The project is financed by Likano Project Development and Open Circle Investments under CO2balance’s Global Micro Programme of Activities. 

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“The project has supported the provision of safe water, using borehole technology, to hundreds of households within Gatsibo and the project has ensured that households consume less firewood during the process of water purification and as a result there will be a reduction in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from the combustion process. The local community has appraised the project as one that has improved their livelihoods; they assert that the renovated boreholes have fundamentally reduced the amount of firewood they use in boiling the drinking, cleaning and washing water. This has subsequently lessened the time the women and children spend in collecting firewood. They are therefore able to utilize the time in engaging in other economic activities.”

- Clarisse Ingabire, The Gold Standard Objective Observer